Friday, June 28, 2013

July Recruiting Period

This July recruiting period should prove to be a very busy one for the Trinity Basketball Coaching Staff. With the open recruiting periods for Division I schools spreading out this upcoming month, a vast majority of the nation's high school talent will be playing in various events all across the country. Be on the lookout for Trinity Basketball at the following events:

June 30-July 1 - Hoop Mountain Elite Student Athlete Prospect Camp (San Diego, CA)
July 10-12 - Hoop Mountain All Academic Showcase (Boston, MA)
July 12-14 - NW Premier Summer Showcase (Seattle, WA)
July 12-14 - Adidas Invitational (Indianapolis, IN)
July 17 - Textbook Academic Academic Showcase (Dallas, TX)
July 18-21 - Great American Shoot Out (Dallas, TX)
July 24-27 - Adidas Super 64, Las Vegas Fab 48, and Bigfoot Hoops Classic (Las Vegas, NV)

If you see any of our coaches at these events, be sure to say hi!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Sportsmanship

This is an overdue "congratulations", but a very necessary one. Congrats to, now alum, John Boxberger '13 on being selected to the 2012-13 SCAC All-Sportsmanship Team.

While the All-Sportsmanship Team is a fairly recent recognition from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, it stands for everything that is right with Division III. The SCAC is filled with student-athletes that strive to succeed in the classroom and in the sport of their choice. Our last post was a great example of how dedicated our student-athletes are to "getting it done" in the classroom. The All-Sportsmanship Team provides recognition to those who COMPETE in athletics "the right way". SCAC student-athletes are competitive. The drive to win for their school is just as strong as any other level and they have dedicated their lives to bettering themselves as athletes to be able to enjoy success in a sport they love. They compete hard, but they respect the game and each other. It is always amazing to see how well our student-athletes interact with one another. Sure, they want to do everything they can to earn the victory - it is a battle on the court, but once the game is over, win or lose, the level of respect and sportsmanship displayed is inspiring.

John Boxberger was the perfect selection for the All-Sportsmanship Team. Few showed as much emotion for their team than Box. Whether he was in the game or on the bench, Box's energy was always felt. Gifted with a powerful voice (which we all experienced first-hand in Italy), it was hard not to hear him from anywhere in the gym. His vocal encouragement helped carry us through many strenuous situations this past season. It is hard to say anyone wanted to win more than Box. Even with that drive and competitive spirit, there was never an instance where Box represented Trinity University in a poor manner. We were fortunate to have such an example of what it means to be a student-athlete.



Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Academic Standard

Winning back-to-back Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships is a tremendous accomplishment, but what is even more extraordinary is being able to succeed on the court WHILE maintaining the highest academic success in the conference. Yesterday, the SCAC announced the Spring 2013 Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll, which acknowledges student-athletes that achieve a 3.25 or higher semester GPA. This year, Trinity Basketball placed 11 student-athletes on this list (the most for a men's basketball team), while holding an overall team GPA of 3.22 (far above the average male student's GPA at Trinity). We would like to congratulate, AND THANK, the following student-athletes for their dedication to succeeding at the highest level, both on and off the court -

John Boxberger
Jimmy Clark
Jacob Cukjati
Matt Holmes
Robert Kitzinger
John LaVanway
Zach Lambert
Craig Saltarelli
Matt Selling
Joe Shotland
Jonathan Wilt

As a whole, our Athletic Department simply out-performed the rest of the conference, with 141 student-athletes making the honor roll - 32 more than the second highest total. This is a testament to the type of student-athletes we attract here at Trinity. These are highly motivated individuals that are here not just to compete on the court/field, but more importantly, to earn a premier education. If anyone says that college athletics has lost its meaning, we would love to invite them down to San Antonio to experience what it means to be a true student-athlete.